Editing Toll road (section)

== Arguments against toll roads ==
Toll roads have been criticised{{by whom|date=November 2021}} as being inefficient in various ways:<ref name="Roth">{{cite book
 | last = Roth
 | first = Gabriel
 | title = Roads in a market economy
 | publisher = Ashgate Publishing Company
 | year = 1998
 | page = 122
 | isbn = 978-0-291-39814-7 }}</ref>
# They require vehicles to stop or slow down (except [[open road tolling]]); manual toll collection wastes time and raises vehicle operating costs.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}
# Collection costs can reduce revenue by up to a third, and revenue theft is considered{{by whom|date=November 2021}} to be comparatively easy.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}
# Where the tolled roads are less congested than the parallel "free" roads, the traffic diversion resulting from the tolls increases congestion on the road system and reduces its usefulness.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chronicle |date=2013-04-07 |title=Eliminate toll roads |url=https://www.chronicleonline.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/eliminate-toll-roads/article_26cecbdf-d290-51be-9086-74d5632de3c1.html |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=Chronicle Online |language=en}}</ref>
# There are concerns about [[government surveillance]] associated with both electronic tolls and some forms of "classical" toll collection.

A number of additional criticisms are also directed at toll roads in general:
# Toll roads are a form of [[regressive tax]]ation; that is, compared to conventional taxes for funding roads, they benefit wealthier citizens more than poor citizens.<ref>{{cite journal| journal=Transportation Quarterly | volume=57 | date=Summer 2003 | url=http://www.tollfreeinterstates.com/sites/default/files/The%20Inefficiency%20of%20Toll%20Collection%20as%20a%20Means%20of%20Taxation.pdf | page=26 | quote=Nakamura and Kockelman (2002) show that tolls are by nature regressive ...|title = The Inefficiency of Toll Collection as a Means of Taxation: Evidence from the Garden State Parkway|last1 = Peters|first1 = Jonathan R.|last2 = Kramer|first2= Jonathan K.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Who Uses Toll Roads?: An Analysis of Central Texas Turnpike Users | last1=Robertson|first1=Christopher Charles|last2=Prozzi|first2=Jolanda|last3=Walton|first3=C. Michael | year=2008 | publisher=Southwest Regional University Transportation Center, Center for Transportation Research, University of Texas at Austin | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S7MkAQAAMAAJ | page=30 | quote=Low income users unable to pay to use toll facilities, however, will not gain most of the benefits accessible to those with the ability to pay. ... The study concludes that ... toll roads are a regressive form of funding road systems ... | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301151550/https://books.google.com/books?id=S7MkAQAAMAAJ | archive-date=March 1, 2018 }}</ref>
# If toll roads are owned or managed by private for profit entities, the citizens may lose money overall compared to conventional public funding because the private owners or operators of the toll system will naturally seek to profit from the roads.<ref>{{cite book | title=Contemporary Business | author=Kurtz, David L.; Boone, Louis E. | year=2008 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RQ53EH4pOAC | page=17 | publisher=South-Western Cengage Learning | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301151556/https://books.google.com/books?id=1RQ53EH4pOAC | archive-date=March 1, 2018 | isbn=978-0324653847 }}</ref>
# The managing entities, whether public or private, may not correctly account for the overall social costs, particularly to the poor, when setting pricing and thus may hurt the neediest segments of society.<ref>{{cite book | title=Modernizing Infrastructure in Transformation Economies | author=von Hirschhausen, Christian | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecQDn_8DtSMC | page=155 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301151550/https://books.google.com/books?id=ecQDn_8DtSMC | archive-date=March 1, 2018 | isbn=9781781959787 | date=January 1, 2002 | publisher=Edward Elgar }}</ref>